The present application finds particular application in vehicle data preservation, particularly involving event data surrounding an event of interest (e.g. vehicle accident, deceleration above a threshold, vehicle speed over a threshold, etc.). However, it will be appreciated that the described technique may also find application in other data recording systems, other data preservation systems, or other vehicle safety systems.
Conventional vehicle data recording systems do not protect event data recorded at or near the time of a vehicle crash. One data recording approach locks event data during field alteration of a vehicle electronic control unit (ECU). A separate authorized tool is used to update the ECU if event data is stored in the programmable memory in order to prevent the event data from being overwritten. Another conventional data recording approach relates to a video recording unit on a train. The unit continuously records video data until the emergency brake is actuated and the train whistle blows. At that time the video recording stops after a predetermined time period and access to the video information is restricted.
Another classical approach to vehicle data recording relates to a vehicle data recording system that collects vehicle information, including video. The recording device is programmed to continuously record data until triggered by an event, such as sudden acceleration. The vehicle status surrounding the sudden acceleration can be analyzed later. The system records new information in a separate re-writable portion of memory. A competent authority must remove the recording device in order to read the data.
The present innovation provides new and improved vehicle event data locking and unlocking systems and methods, which overcome the above-referenced problems and others.